Florida Tries Yet Again

If at first you don't succeed....

Florida is trying for the forth time to reform alimony in the state including getting rid of permanent alimony. 

After governors have vetoed three previous attempts to change Florida’s alimony laws, the latest proposed revamp is headed to the full Senate for a vote. The Florida Bar’s Family Law Section and supporters of overhauling alimony laws clashed for a decade. But the former foes have banded together this year to endorse a plan to do away with “permanent” alimony and make a series of other changes.

Not surprisingly, recipients of permanent alimony oppose the idea. 

Is it not strange that a marriage can be ended by divorce at any time but permanent alimony is until death? The idea that a person can leave a marriage with the provision that the abandoned spouse has to work until death for them is simply not right. 

Most states require marital assets to be divided equally at the time of divorce. In extraordinary circumstances, I am fine with one spouse getting temporary alimony to train for a job but other that that it is difficult to understand why they would get more. Especially, like in my case, the abandoned spouse is the one raising the children.